Analyzing language, developing language courseware, teaching a language, and learning a language has become increasingly complex and demands the use of many different devices. In order to analyze language, develop language courseware, teach a language, and learn a language in the most efficient and productive manner, it is imperative that all of the tools for conducting such activities be at the fingertips of the analysts, developer, instructor, and student.
Prior art devices and methods of using graphical user interfaces for analyzing language, developing language courseware, teaching a language, and learning a language involve many cumbersome audio, video, and text-based tools that may not be connected and do not communicate with one another. It is especially difficult for the prior art to handle multilingual input.
In the prior art, language-instruction media is presented in printed or audio-visual form. Prior art audio-visual players, commonly referred to as media players, have minimal functionality and few, if any, advanced features. Students using printed forms could only complete exercises by typing or hand-writing answers onto the printed forms.
Disadvantages of the prior art include unsophisticated media players and inadequate communication between media players and courseware.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,372, entitled “GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR,” discloses a method of translating the display language of a computer application to a user-selectable language. The user initially selects the language by suggesting a translation for the application, and upon subsequent uses of the application, this invention automatically translates the display language of the application. U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,372 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,285, entitled “NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM,” discloses a device for processing text by applying grammar rules and incorporating information contained in a dictionary. The device examines the text input to determine the applicability of each grammar rule and verifies that each rule is followed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,958,285 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,128, entitled “TRANSLATION BETWEEN NATURAL LANGUAGES,” discloses a method for language translation. The method takes a natural language sentence and divides it up into its parts of speech. Using the parts of speech, the method matches the original word with an appropriate word in the target language. The translated words are then pieced together appropriately. U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,128 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
There is a need for a device and method of analyzing language, developing language courseware, teaching a language, and learning a language in an efficient and streamlined manner while allowing maximum flexibility to language analysts, instructors, and students. The present invention provides such a device and method.